Voice of America gets flak over outsourcing decision

[Judi Lynn]

Voice of America gets flak over outsourcing decision

By Sam Singer
Washington Bureau
Published June 21, 2005


WASHINGTON -- Labor leaders and activists have denounced the business community for years for "outsourcing" work to other countries. Now the federal government is planning to shift a handful of highly symbolic jobs overseas, and labor unions and lawmakers are protesting angrily.

The Voice of America recently decided to move part of its late night news operation to Hong Kong, possibly hiring foreign workers. That has caught the attention of the Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who are joining labor groups in urging the news service to keep the positions inside U.S. borders.

In a strongly worded letter to VOA Director David Jackson, 14 Democratic senators said the shift would undermine VOA's mandate to "present a balanced and therefore comprehensive projection of significant American thought and institutions."

According to its charter, VOA must further long-term American interests by "presenting the policies of the United States clearly and effectively" while remaining a "consistently reliable and authoritative source of news."

That ambiguous language, which seems to provide for both advocacy and journalistic objectivity, lies at the heart of an ongoing tension over VOA's mission. The decision to move eight jobs to Hong Kong has inflamed that tension far beyond the number of employees affected.
(snip/...)

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[annabanana]

1. Sad, but fitting somehow... there is no official

"Voice of America" on the world stage now. It might as well come from Hong Kong, or Uzbekistan, or where ever.

[Nihil]

2. Why not go the whole hog?

Outsource it to China!

(And redirect all call-ins to an Indian call centre ...)